Rise of Rome - Persia

[gunkulator]

I just started a RoR game and choose Persia for the first time. I can't believe the embarrassment of riches. You start with 2 luxes already and there are 3(!) more just sitting there in unclaimed space just a few tiles away from your borders. Not only that, but the first Macedonian city you'll take (the one at their extreme SE) has a 6th lux. And if that isn't enough, there are Elephants too just hanging around for you to claim.

Macedonia unfortunately is covered with mountains and hills however they do make a nice buffer between me and Rome. The AI seems to do a better job with Carthage than they do with Rome which is fortunate for me.

And then there's Egypt. Poor backward resource-lacking Egypt. I got them to declare war on Macedon but it looks like they can't do much more than build Archers and Warriors. I'm letting 'them build a wonder and then I'll crush them. With no Elephants and all flat terrain, they look to be a push-over.

The only big bummer to Persia is the extremely poor location of the capital. Never the less, I'm finding them to be an easier win than even Rome.

 

[Breunor]

Yes, I think Persia is quite strong. Rome of course is also strong and is a lot of fun, especially since they are the most different from the standard game. Carthage is a nice challenge -- I find Macedonia pretty hard.

Breunor

 

[Himalia]

Ive only ever played as Carthage on this scenario and kinda rewrote history alittle. The Romans were the first casualties and i was thinking prehaps it will end here (it had been a long game) but no it had to played on for seemed an eternity. Macedonia fell next but even that didt allow a domination victory. Egypt didt fair to well with that land, they had been polite towards me the whole game so i felt kinda guilty slaughtering them. (hmm not that guilty tho) The Persians who were looking for a fight put up a fair resistence after clawing a few cities from them i got close to domination but what actually did it fro me was just building a few random cities in any old gap to just claim the extra space.

 

[Sybot]

Macedon actually went on the offensive last time i played this. Usually Persia destroys it or at least takes most of its cities but this time they had actually gone of the offensive and kicked Persia out of Anatolia (Ancient Turkey).

Note that when I tried Persia I found I was overwhlemed wih Hoplites continuously advancing along mountains and being impossible to kill so I gave up playing as them and beat it as Carthage instead.

 

[Keshik]

I haven't played as Persia yet, but in my last game as Rome they steamrolled Macedon despite my efforts to prop up Alexander. Right now I'm trying to punish them as Macedon on Monarch. I have the upper hand with 40 or so turns to go, but the Persians still have a lot of territory.

My best move in this game was to start building the Temple of Artemis, then research to Literature and switch to get the GL. Of course the switch was forced on me! At that point you can put all your economy into cash and rush units to defend against the Persian onslaught. As long as I can keep the Red menace appeased I think I can make it!

 

[Fried Egg]

I've only played this scenario once (as Rome) and found that, by the time I had crushed Carthage (and stabalised my nothern front), Persia had become so strong that they steamrolled Macedon and halted my advance eastwards till the end of the game...

 

[gunkulator]

As the game goes on the Persians can continue to crank out an insane number of 40 shield Immortals in almost all their cities while the Romans are stuck dribbling out the occasional 70 shield Legion II or 90 shield Legion III from their high shield cities.

I never bother with the GL because there just aren't a lot of techs in this scenario. Bachanalia is always good. The Persians don't need it but keeping the Romans away from it will force them to use a lot of clowns. ToA is the most important wonder in this game to help newly settled towns claim more tiles for the domination limit.

To deal with the Hoplite: Claim the Ivory NE of your capitol (I use a colony because I don't want a low rank city stuck in all desert). Now you can build 30 shield Numidian Mercenaries. Your Spearmen upgrade to NMs too. Stack with Immortals to absorb Hoplite attacks. To kill Hoplites, you need to lure them out of the mountains. Bait them with an empty city surrounded by flat terrain. As long as Hoplites are on terrain other than mountains and hills, your Immortals have the advantage. Build a few catapults to increase your odds.

 

[Codpiece]

I find that Immortals can be beaten easily as the Greeks if you adopt a raiding strategy. Send your units via forests, hills and mountains and ALWAYS attack cities from one of these if you have the chance. This brings your defence up to match the Immortals' attack, especially with mountains. Also, the Hoplite's attack beats the defence of Immortals in a straight fight, and also that of spearmen, which the Persians rely on for defence somewhat. Take the north of Anatolia first, A. before they can reinforce and B. so you can curl round to the south once you've moved a large enough force up via the south to pincer them.

If you can successfully take Asia Minor, not even necessarily annihilating the Persians, then you can usually build up enough to make wonders, as barbarians were little more than annoyances, and AI Rome continues to look west (usually) throughout the game.

 

[gunkulator]

Yes, the AI is too stupid as Persia to build a colony on the readily available Ivory and they won't build a city either because the land is all desert. As such they depend on Spearmen when they could easily have Numidian Mercenaries. If Persia does manage to build a wonder, it will undoubtably be in the extreme southeast, near its capital. You could spend a lot of time working your way down to capture it.

Another nice thing about Persia is they are religious. Usually this is so-so trait but since domination is your best bet, you'll want a temple in every new city. Also, it's nice to be able to switch to Republic with its cash-rush instead of waiting for Imperialism.

As an amusing side note: I got an SGL with Imperialism. All wonders were built long ago. Even if the Age of Science worked, there's only 1 tech left in the game, Medicine. Maybe I'll use it as a scout...

 

[thetrooper]

As an amusing side note: I got an SGL with Imperialism. All wonders were built long ago. Even if the Age of Science worked, there's only 1 tech left in the game, Medicine. Maybe I'll use it as a scout...

Or maybe a diversion. The AI love to chase down 0-defence units.

 

[Balton]

Rise of Rome...

I just started a game as Rome on Regent level. I welcome all the suggestions I can get. pleaseeeee

 

[Dreadnought]

This is how I beat it as Rome:

1- Sieze Sicily. You will have a base to attack Africa, and if you loose it then Carthage has a base to attack Italy

2- Get Corsica/Sardinia.

3- Expand into Gaul, conquer them (i did this with Legion Is and IIs, so it shouldn't be that hard)

4- Time to go into Spain.

5- From Spain, land at Tingis and Lepis Magna (from Sicily).

6- Using a pincer movement finish off Carthage.

7- Get Egypt. With Legion IIs and IIIs compared to their warriors, it was easy.

8- Alliance with Persia to get Macedon.

9- Finally, if you need more land, you must take down the menace Persia, which is very difficult if they're very powerful. I only made it through Persian Greece when I won, but you need to hold Byzantium. That is the one city they have to conquer. Or you could go after Germany, but I found them too far away and by the time I could, they were conquered by Sythia, who I had a MA against Persia with).

 

[gunkulator]

As Rome you don't ever have to fight Persia and vice versa. As Rome take out Carthage, the Celts and the Goths in that order. Settle the empty lands and win by domination. As Persia you start with the most land. Take out Macedon, Egypt and some of Scythia. That's also enough for a domination win.

 

[Dreadnought]

As Rome you don't ever have to fight Persia and vice versa. As Rome take out Carthage, the Celts and the Goths in that order. Settle the empty lands and win by domination. As Persia you start with the most land. Take out Macedon, Egypt and some of Scythia. That's also enough for a domination win.

It is easier to take out Persia (since you have the men left over from your other wars) than to make citizens and settle. IMHO.

 

[Balton]

Thanks for all the tips. In the game, I am wondering if I should get an early GA or not, using the UU.

I suppose that ToA is probably the most important wonder, nevertheless as I cannot see the next age, I am also considering GL to be valueable as well. Any tips on Wonders?

 

[TyranusBonehead]

I started playing this scenario last night as Persia. I'll take all the advantages I can get
Anyone who declares war on me, I immediately offer alliances against them to anyone who will take, so I get others to do my fighting for me. Although I have a big army of Immortals.

So far so good. Onward and upward.

 

[gunkulator]

It is easier to take out Persia (since you have the men left over from your other wars) than to make citizens and settle. IMHO.

Remember that Rome also has a UU settler, the Citizen. Citizens have 2 move and only cost 1 population point. Combined with a road cost of only 1/4, your Citizens can boogie 8 tiles/turn and quickly settle anywhere. Rome also starts with an outstanding settler pump in NE Italy. I've won as Rome without even bothering to conquer Carthage or Macedon because settling is so easy.

 

[classical_hero]

I am playing as Persia in my most recent game. I am playing at an Emporer level. I have found that playing as Persia is almost too easy even at this difficult level, for me at least. Persia are easily the second most powerful civ in this scenario. I managed to Defeat Greece really easily. I just have not bothered to finish the game because I prefer to play against humans.

 

[Nyvin]

I played as Rome and I had a lot of fun trying to keep egypt alive by giving them iron, horses and wines and any techs i had and also gave them contact with the Celts first. Keeping Egypt alive is quite a challenge if your Rome, but it can be done.

If you do usually it will mean that Persia won't be able to conquer Macedon and if you have a double alliance with Scithia and Egypt against Persia at the same time, usually Persia will lose a lot to Macedon, I've even seen Macedon make it as far as Mesopotamia (as AI!!) before...

Mainland Carthage will be much easier to kill since they'll always be busy to the east.

Overall when I'm Rome I always see keeping Egypt alive as a top priority, it just works out a lot to Rome's benefit. At least till I move in and conquer them, lol.

 

[bkwrm79]

I'm glad to hear it's possible to help Egypt, I'll try that next time.

I've found I need to keep lots of troops in Sardinia and Corsica or the Carthaginians will mount surprisingly effective counter-attacks. And in one game I allied with Macedon, and they sent a huuuuge fleet of galleys to fight the Carthaginian fleet!